The Ebola epidemic has slowed to a trickle in Liberia, and the American soldiers who helped with the medical response effort have ended their missions. But aid workers caution that vigilance — and more infrastructure — is still needed.

Everyone knows that Alzheimer's can be a devastating problem for the elderly and their families. What many people don't know is that women over 65 have a much higher risk of developing Alzheimer's than men, and scientists are trying to figure out why.

A new drug called spice is only the latest in a series of synthetic drugs that have flooded the Russian market over the years. Offering a cheap and readily available high, Russian health experts are trying to keep kids away, but keeping up with drug dealers is proving difficult.

Coffee is a crucial part of many morning routines. If it's part of your morning routine, be glad. New research suggests that coffee, in fairly large quantities, actually presents significant health benefits.

In researching death, a reporter finds a surprise: "Yes, it would have been great to hear Mozart playing live. Or maybe watch Shakespeare putting on a show. But until recently, life for most people was nasty, brutish and above all —short."

There are vast racial differences in the occurrence of cancer — in breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. And there's a great deal of difference in the mortality rates in men who are black and men who are white as well.

"What I felt on the Ganges," says Atul Gawande, the surgeon and author of Being Mortal, "was he had brought us there and connected himself to all that was important to him, but he was connecting us as well."

In the 18th century, King Louis XVI underwent a highly controversial medical procedure: smallpox inoculation. To commemorate his new immunity, milliners in France concocted a new fashion. A historian says we need a gimmick like that today to help us through a measles outbreak.

His humble proposal to screen Americans traveling to Africa for measles has been widely supported on Twitter. He explains why he wrote it and says the world has a ''one-dimensional narrative'' toward Africa.

It was a rare political moment: the US Secretary of State paying a compliment to Cuba. But that’s what happened Friday when John Kerry commended Cuba's role in West Africa, where the island nation has sent more health workers than any other country — and plans to send even more in the coming weeks.

Scientists are warning West African villagers to stop hunting bush meat and to stay away from fruit bats as they circle in a possible animal source for the latest Ebola outbreak. The Ebola virus lives in fruit bats, scientists believe, and is threatening communities who are already facing the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.

Updated

10/15/2014 - 2:00pm

How easily can you catch Ebola? What does it do to your body? Emmanuel d'Harcourt, senior health director of the International Rescue Committee, which is helping fight the Ebola crisis in West Africa, offers some answers.

The new NOVA special, "Vaccines: Calling the Shots," explores the lingering global resistance to vaccination campaigns. Case studies from around the world explain just how bad the impact can be when groups opt out of childhood shots.

The current Ebola outbreak has reached a new country, the fifth in the most recent outbreak — and all countries that have never seen an outbreak before. International medical experts worry that eventually 20,000 people could be infected by the virus.

Can we treat our way out of the AIDS epidemic? On World AIDS Day we're partnering up with The Forum at Harvard School of Public Health for a discussion about the "treatment as prevention" strategy for eradicating AIDS.

Coffee is a crucial part of many morning routines. If it's part of your morning routine, be glad. New research suggests that coffee, in fairly large quantities, actually presents significant health benefits.

Dr. Joia Mukherjee is part of a small team of Boston-area doctors heading to Liberia this week, hoping to lay the groundwork for an ambitious, multi-year project aimed at combating the Ebola outbreak. She says the reason the world has responded so slowly to the crisis is that Africans and poor people are not considered important.

The new NOVA special, "Vaccines: Calling the Shots," explores the lingering global resistance to vaccination campaigns. Case studies from around the world explain just how bad the impact can be when groups opt out of childhood shots.

The wildly popular tweet was aimed at a nation that stigmatized all Africans during the Ebola outbreak. While the US government recommends all its citizens get inoculations, including one for measles, many states allow exemptions for personal or philosophical concerns. Immigrants, however, don't enjoy that choice.

It was a rare political moment: the US Secretary of State paying a compliment to Cuba. But that’s what happened Friday when John Kerry commended Cuba's role in West Africa, where the island nation has sent more health workers than any other country — and plans to send even more in the coming weeks.

Updated

10/15/2014 - 2:00pm

How easily can you catch Ebola? What does it do to your body? Emmanuel d'Harcourt, senior health director of the International Rescue Committee, which is helping fight the Ebola crisis in West Africa, offers some answers.

Coffee is a crucial part of many morning routines. If it's part of your morning routine, be glad. New research suggests that coffee, in fairly large quantities, actually presents significant health benefits.

A nurse working in Guinea for Doctors Without Borders describes the illness and recovery of Sasobas Temé Sadnou from Ebola, and how he's now helping to dispel myths and fears about how the disease is being treated.

In researching death, a reporter finds a surprise: "Yes, it would have been great to hear Mozart playing live. Or maybe watch Shakespeare putting on a show. But until recently, life for most people was nasty, brutish and above all —short."

Bad news for e-book readers: Using one, instead of a book, or using a tablet or smartphone in the evenings before bed disrupts normal sleep patterns and alters the natural circadian rhythms crucial to healthy sleep. Now a new study confirms it in even more detail.

It may not be deadly, but the chikungunya virus has swept across the Caribbean and led Jamaica to declare a national state of emergency. The painful illness has infected thousands, and the island's government is hoping to clamp down on the disease with new information campaigns.